Thursday. 29 April, 2010
I slept soundly until 0630, the first time in a bed since I left home last Sunday. I went outside to take pictures of the house and barn. The wind was still blowing hard, and a few flakes of snow were falling. I didn’t stay outside long because it was so cold. I put water on to boil, and Carolyn got up to offer to cook me breakfast, but I told her I had oatmeal to cook. After Jimmy, Ron, and Kay got up we took pictures and I headed for Salt Lake City.

I stopped at the auto parts store in Dove Creek to buy a splitter for my cigarette lighter so I could charge my GPS and listen to my ipod at the same time. The manager of the auto parts store was a very friendly fellow. He offered to help me open the plastic packaging. I accepted his offer, telling him I would avoid buying anything packaged in this manner if I had an option. He agreed that he too disliked it.

It started to snow seriously, so I called home and my cousin Harold Wilcox in Salt Lake City while I was in Dove Creek to discuss the weather and whether I would be able to get over the Sierra at Tahoe or would have to go south to Tehachapi. Harold said there was less snow in Salt Lake City than in Flagstaff, Arizona and recommended that I come through Salt Lake City. I told him I would try to get there that evening. I took some photos of the Abajo Mountains from somewhere between Dove Creek and Montecello.

I stopped at the Mountain View RV Park in Montecello to pay for the shower I took there yesterday, and took a few more photos of the snow covered landscape just north of Montecello. I drove north on 191 through some very scenic country, then west on I 50 and north on 191 again to Helper where I took a nap next to a display of mining equipment and got fuel. Helper is an interesting town; one that I could have spent a day in. It is the home of the Western Railroad and Mining Museum, and the historical buildings have been preserved so that the town looks much as it did a hundred years ago.

I arrived at Harold and Helen Wilcox’s home in Highland, UT before 1800. They had a supper of spaghetti and green salad waiting for me. Their daughter, Elizabeth, came by after supper. Elizabeth is a bubbly, high energy person with the best hug I have ever experienced. She offered to show me the Family History Center in Salt Lake City tomorrow. Harold and Helen have a large basement with bedroom, bath, large living room and wet bar. I helped Elizabeth make up the bed, and Harold got out an electric heater in case I got cold. I didn’t need it.

You can see more photos of this trip at Picasa.